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St. Paul Police Chief says Archdiocese more cooperative

St. Paul police chief Tom Smith says his investigators have received more cooperation from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis since he publicly called out the church and urged leaders to be more transparent.

St. Paul Police Chief says Archdiocese more cooperative

ST. PAUL, Minn. - St. Paul police chief Tom Smith says his investigators have received more cooperation from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis since he publicly called out the church and urged leaders to be more transparent.

Last December Smith criticized church leaders for cooperating and not being more transparent as police moved forward with investigations into clergy child sex abuse and an alleged cover-up

In his first sit-down interview with reporters since the clergy sex abuse scandal hit headlines last fall, Smith addressed how the church has been cooperating with his officers' investigations and some lines of questioning. Investigators have been talking regularly with the archdiocese's legal team, he says, but Smith would not talk about specific open cases.

He says investigators are looking into a number of issues, including specific cases of alleged abuse and whether there was any criminal wrongdoing on the part of church officials.